Stay ConnectedWelcome to “Stories of Appalachia,” the podcast where hosts Steve Gilly and Rod Mullins have been unraveling the captivating history and folklore of the Appalachian region since 2015. Join them as they guide you through mist-covered mountains and winding rivers, exploring the stories that define the heart and soul of Appalachia.
www.storiesofappalachia.com
Copyright: © Copyright Steve Gilly
The Appalachian frontier of the 1780's and 1790's was a dress rehearsal for the Wild West of the 1870's and 1880's, with the establishment of new towns, new farms, and wars with the Native Americans who were already there. Today we tell the story of the son of a Cherokee woman and a Scots trader who became a legendary Cherokee warrior, raiding the settlements along the Holston and Clinch Rivers in what's now eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia during those frontier times. The Stories podcast is available at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and on many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends.
There are a lot of men and women who make a career out of helping others achieve their life goals. These self-help teachers and authors include Norman Vincent Peale, Tony Robbins and Dale Carnegie. One of the first of these was a man named Napoleon Hill, whose book "Think And Grow Rich," was a world wide bestseller still available in bookstores 80 years after it was first published. Oh, by the way, Napoleon Hill was born in Pound, Virginia, and we tell his fascinating story on today's podcast episode. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Feedburner, or on any number of other podcast apps. Thanks for listening.
During the Great Depression jobs were hard to come by. So when the Rhinehart and Dennis Construction Company came looking for workers to build a hydroelectric tunnel on the New River in West Virginia in 1930, men from around the country started pouring into the area. Many of these men were African Americans from the Deep South, and they worked the hardest, with little or no safety gear provided by the company that commissioned the work, Union Carbide. The result was the worst industrial disaster in American history. Today we tell the story of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast, for free, at IHeart Radio, RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening to our stories of Appalachian history.
We have a "two-fer" for you this week! In our first story, from Pennsylvania, we tell of a murder with a wizardly twist. In the second, a husband with a dying wife in West Virginia appears to be trying to hurry her along. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Spotify, TuneIn or wherever podcasts can be downloaded. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends!
In 1886 two brothers from Carter County, Tennessee, ran for governor of the Volunteer State, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. Instead of ripping the family apart, the campaign allowed the two to have the time of their lives, all the way to the Governor's Mansion. Today we tell the story of the War of the Roses between the Taylor brothers, Alf and Bob. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Spotify, IHeart Radio and wherever else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories with your friends.
Back in the 1920's A. P. Carter scoured the Appalachian countryside looking for songs the Carter Family could perform. Along with him was a young black musician from Kingsport who was instrumental in finding many of those songs in the area's African-American community. Today we tell his story. The Stories podcast is available for download, for free, from many podcast apps, including Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, and more. Thanks for listening to our stories about the history of Appalachia.
Today, in a retelling of our very first podcast episode, Rod and Steve tell the story of a man who, during the 1930's and 40's, worked at Tennessee Eastman, Holston Defense and in Oak Ridge on the Manhattan Project. He also was a Russian asset who sold information about American weapons to his handlers. The Stories podcast is available, for free, at Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Spotify, IHeart Radio, and on most other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories of Appalachian history with your friends.
Today we tell the story of Judge Alexander Ratliff of Pikeville, Kentucky, who ran for office as both a Democrat and as an Independent, at the same time, gathering enough votes from both ballots to be elected. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any number of podcast apps, all for free. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends.
The story of the kidnapping of a high school student in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, who was dragged off into the woods while walking from her bus stop to her house. The man who took her was known as an eccentric in the community. The kidnapping triggered the largest manhunt in American history to that time. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast, for free of course, at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or on any number of other podcast apps. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. There's also a Stories Podcast YouTube channel! We only have two videos, but we are working on adding others for you, so be sure to subscribe!
On September 10, 1897, more than a dozen coal miners, mainly eastern European immigrants, were shot and killed by police while on strike at the Lattimer mine in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. This was a turning point in the UMW's efforts to organize the coal fields of northern Appalachia and today we tell that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio, Stitcher or on most other podcast apps. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for listening to our little bits of Appalachian history.
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